The Atomic Age began after the first atomic bomb detonation in 1945 and was characterized by enthusiasm for atomic energy. However, the threat of nuclear war and the challenges and costs of nuclear power caused its decline. Nuclear power is making a comeback due to its emission-free energy, but there is still work to be done. The US Navy’s nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers remain a legacy of the Atomic Age.
The atomic age refers to the era immediately following the detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945, circa the early 1960s, when enthusiasm for nuclear power waned. The phrase “Atomic Age” encompasses the enthusiasm felt by many after the discovery of atomic energy and weapons. People felt as if they were on the brink of a new age of civilization, where everything would be powered by atomic energy, from cars to planes to trains to houses to rockets.
However, the looming threat of the atomic apocalypse during the Cold War, coupled with a couple of nuclear accidents, quickly diminished enthusiasm for nuclear technology. Regardless, many have argued that it is making a comeback in the present, largely due to the allure of nuclear power as an emission-free primary energy source.
Exposed to nothing but chemical energy sources throughout our history, humanity is to be expected to have great excitement upon the discovery of a new energy source. A single kilogram of uranium, burned in a conventional nuclear reactor, produces more energy than 200 barrels of oil. Experts have predicted “energy too cheap to measure” and a utopian society. In 1958, Ford introduced its nuclear-powered concept car, the Ford Nucleon. The Department of Defense created a low-altitude nuclear-powered supersonic missile in Project Pluto. Various designs for nuclear powered aircraft were being thrown around.
What caused the atomic age to collapse was not only the specter of nuclear war, but also the very challenges and capital costs of nuclear power. Nuclear power plants require heavily shielded reactors and highly complex safety equipment manned by competent personnel (The Simpsons notwithstanding). Although we are making progress in reducing costs today, it has already been more than 50 years since the first nuclear reactor and there is still much work to be done. Future nuclear reactors based on thorium instead of uranium, for example, would present no risk of meltdown or proliferation.
The atomic age had a successful legacy: the US Navy’s fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. These are the US nuclear trump card to this day, not only being able to be fueled by nuclear energy, but in the case of submarines, deploying it for massive destruction should the need arise.
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